Your members are underpaid on total losses.
When a financed vehicle is totaled, the insurance company decides what it was worth. That figure sets what your member receives and what they still owe you.
In one paragraph
When a member’s financed vehicle is declared a total loss, the insurance company issues a settlement based on what it decides the vehicle was worth. Those figures are frequently low, and on a loan with no GAP waiver the member personally owes whatever the settlement does not cover. Almost nobody has the capacity to challenge every one. SnapClaim reviews the insurer’s valuation on every claim at no charge, and where the number should be higher we act as the independent appraiser under the appraisal clause in the member’s own policy — formally disputing the figure and defending a corrected one. A higher settlement means a smaller balance left behind, and a member who can finance a replacement vehicle with you.
What it’s worth
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Want to see real files first? Actual settlements, before and after →
Definition: New and used vehicle loans you currently hold. NCUA 5300 accounts 385 and 370 for amounts, 958 and 968 for counts.
Definition: Share of financed vehicles declared a total loss in a year. CCC reports total loss frequency reached a record 23.1% of claims in 2025.
Definition: Share of your loans carrying a GAP waiver. On those the reduced deficiency is paid by the administrator rather than owed by the member, so it is reported on its own line.
Definition: Borrowers with no active auto policy. With no active policy there is no valuation to dispute, so these are removed. Your collateral team tracks this as the CPI placement rate.
Definition: Loan payoff minus the insurance settlement. Larger on used collateral, long terms, and rolled-in negative equity.
Definition: The review costs you nothing and comes straight back, so this can sit at 100%.
Definition: Share of reviewed files worth challenging. The rest close untouched at no cost.
Definition: Share of pursued files where the final figure lands above the insurer’s original.
Definition: Increase in the insurer’s valuation. A planning figure, not a guarantee — see actual settlements. It lands first against the deficiency; anything beyond that is paid to the member as equity.
How long it takes
The free review comes back the same minute. If the file proceeds, most resolve in three to fourteen days — the variable is how quickly the insurer appoints its own appraiser, not us.
Free review
Send the vehicle and the insurer’s valuation. We return a documented read on whether the number will move.
Assignment accepted
If the review supports it, we take the file and the member invokes the appraisal clause. If not, we decline at no charge.
Appraisers exchange
We value the vehicle and engage the insurer’s appraiser. Most elapsed time sits here, on their side.
Resolved
The appraisers agree, or an umpire settles it. The revised figure pays into the loan.
No new system to adopt
Send the insurer’s valuation however suits you. The review comes straight back.
Once a file is accepted you can see where it stands at any moment. Nobody on your team learns a portal or manages a queue, and no member list ever changes hands.
Where the value actually lands
A higher settlement helps three parties in different ways. Worth being precise about which is which.
A fair settlement, and a smaller balance behind them
With no waiver, the member personally owes whatever the insurer’s figure does not cover. Every dollar added to the settlement is a dollar they no longer owe on a vehicle they no longer have. They do carry full coverage — you require it — so the appraisal clause in their own policy is fully available.
A member positioned to finance the next vehicle
A total loss closes the loan, and whether that member comes back for the replacement depends on whether they can borrow at all. Still carrying a deficiency on a written-off vehicle is a difficult approval; walking away clean, or with equity for a down payment, is an immediate opportunity — and you write that loan.
A smaller waiver obligation
Where a waiver is in force, a higher settlement reduces what the administrator pays, not what you pay — which is why the calculator shows it on its own line. It still matters to you: better loss experience supports a stable, competitively priced program at renewal. If your administrator subscribes, yours covers the uncovered portion only.
Every term on this page
Claims and valuation terms
- Actual cash value (ACV)
- The insurance company’s figure for what the vehicle was worth immediately before the loss. A professional opinion — two competent appraisers routinely reach different numbers on the same vehicle.
- Total loss
- A claim settled at the vehicle’s value rather than repaired, once repair cost approaches a threshold set by state rule or the policy.
- Deficiency
- Loan payoff minus what the insurer pays. Enlarged by long terms, high LTV, and rolled-forward negative equity.
- Appraisal clause
- A provision in most personal auto policies letting either party demand a formal appraisal when they disagree on the amount of loss. Each appoints a competent and disinterested appraiser; an umpire resolves any remaining gap. It settles the amount, not coverage.
- Competent and disinterested
- The standard the clause imposes. “Disinterested” means no financial stake in the outcome — an appraiser paid a share of the recovery can be disqualified, invalidating the appraisal. Our appointed appraiser is paid a fixed amount that does not vary with the result.
- Money-Back Guarantee
- If the appraisal process produces less than $1,000 in additional recovery, SnapClaim refunds the appraisal fee, subject to the terms of the guarantee. This is a commercial commitment from SnapClaim to you; it does not change what the appointed appraiser is paid, which stays fixed regardless of outcome.
- ACV uplift
- The increase between the insurer’s initial figure and the final one. A planning number, not a guarantee.
- Deficiency cap
- Savings stop at the deficiency itself. Anything above it is paid to the member, and is never counted as a saving in the calculator above.
Program and lending terms
- GAP waiver
- Guaranteed Asset Protection. A contractual agreement by the lender to waive the deficiency after a total loss, sold at origination and administered by a third party.
- GAP attach rate
- Share of vehicle loans carrying a waiver. Determines how your book splits between the pool where you capture the saving and the pool where the administrator does.
- Lapsed / force-placed coverage
- Borrowers who let required coverage lapse, prompting you to place CPI. With no active policy there is no valuation to dispute and no appraisal clause to invoke.
- Surplus equity
- Where the resolved settlement exceeds the loan payoff, the balance is paid to the member. On a replacement purchase it becomes a down payment, which is what makes the next loan approvable.
- Loan recapture
- Whether a member returns to you for the replacement vehicle loan after a total loss. Strongly affected by what they still owe, or do not owe, when the claim closes.
How the process actually runs
Who invokes it. The policyholder — it is their policy and their right. Your role is identifying the claim; we handle invocation, documentation, and the exchange with the insurer’s appraiser.
What data moves. No member list changes hands. Identification happens inside the claim workflow you already run.
What we are not. Appraisers, not attorneys or public adjusters. We value vehicles and defend that valuation. Nothing else.
If the number doesn’t move. The free review exists to keep that rare. Where it happens anyway, the Money-Back Guarantee refunds the appraisal fee if additional recovery comes in under $1,000, subject to its terms — so a file that goes nowhere costs you nothing.
Where the defaults come from
Published figures are linked. Estimates are labelled.
| Total loss frequency | 23.1% of claims | Record industry high in 2025, up from 22.1% the year before, and still rising. CCC Crash Course 2026 (press release), March 2026. |
| Claim frequency inputs | Collision & comp | Paid claim frequency per 100 insured car years, ISS Fast Track as reported in CCC Crash Course. Combined with total-loss share to derive the 1.46% default. |
| Vehicle loan data | NCUA 5300 | Filed quarterly by every federally insured credit union. NCUA Quarterly Call Report Data, accounts 385, 370, 958, 968. |
| Average deficiency | Yours | Not published anywhere. Your own claims records hold it, and it moves the calculator more than any other input. |
| Conversion & success rates | Estimate | Defaults drawn from our own case mix. A back-test on your closed files is the only way to establish your real figures. |
| ACV uplift | Estimate | A planning figure, not a guarantee and not a projection for any specific book. |
Test it on claims you’ve already closed.
Send twenty-five settled total losses. We re-value each one and show what the deficiency would have been. Two weeks, no commitment, and nothing to lose on the files that follow.
SnapClaim provides independent vehicle valuation and appraisal services. We are not attorneys or public adjusters, and do not provide legal advice or negotiate settlements. All fees are flat. Calculator figures are estimates from inputs you supply, not a forecast for any book. Timelines are typical, not guaranteed, and depend substantially on the insurance company. Results vary by vehicle, condition, market and policy terms.
